Vacuum highway seal

Abstract

A vacuum highway seal provides an effective barrier for maintaining a separation between the atmosphere and a vacuum highway, which allows vehicles to reach near orbital speeds on the surface of the earth. The vacuum highway seal is composed of a pool of water with a pipe extending from several feet below the surface to approximately forty feet above the surface of the water. Water is pushed by atmospheric pressure from the pool to approximately thirty two feet above the pool into the pipe. A vehicle is loaded with cargo and/or people at the dock in the pool, then is submerged and travels to the entrance of the pipe underneath the water. The pipe is tapered and sloped to allow an easy transition from the pool into the vacuum highway. As the water ballast used to submerge the vehicle is expelled the vehicle is accelerated to the surface of the water and the vacuum highway beyond. Once in the vacuum highway a second propulsion system is used to propel and lift the vehicle. Very high velocities can be reached without the forces of drag and friction, which are not present on a levitating vehicle in a vacuum. To maintain the vacuum of the vacuum highway the seal has a large volume maintained by vacuum pumps. To reduce leakage, a closed loop system pumps deaerated water into the pipe near the upper surface of the water thus sweeping away the air entrapped on the surface of the vehicle as it travels through the water. Once the vehicle reaches the destination end of the vacuum highway, it descends through a second vacuum highway seal and proceeds to the dock to allow passengers to exit or cargo to be unloaded. The vacuum highway has application with propulsion technologies which will not pressurize the vacuum highway with gases.

I claim: 
     
       1. A vacuum highway system comprising: at least one pool of liquid;   at least one vehicle adapted to travel in said pool;   at least one transition piece containing liquid for sealing a vacuum highway and for allowing said at least one vehicle to travel between said at least one pool and said at least one vacuum highway; and   a vacuum device adapted to remove air from said highway.   
     
     
       2. The vacuum highway system of claim 1, wherein said vacuum highway comprises a pipe means for allowing said at least one vehicle to travel therein at high rates of speed. 
     
     
       3. The vacuum highway system of claim 1, wherein said vacuum device comprises a vacuum tank and a vacuum pump. 
     
     
       4. The vacuum highway system of claim 1, further comprising a containment device for exhaust gases and liquids which allows processing for pollution prior to release. 
     
     
       5. The vacuum highway system of claim 1, wherein said at least one vehicle floats on said pool and submerges to travel to said at least one transition piece. 
     
     
       6. The vacuum highway system of claim 1, wherein said at least one vehicle has levitating means and propulsion means. 
     
     
       7. The vacuum highway system of claim 1, further comprising a dock means to allow said at least one vehicle to tie onto said dock means for loading and unloading. 
     
     
       8. The vacuum highway system of claim 1, wherein said at least one transition piece provides elevation for the liquid in order to equalize atmospheric pressure. 
     
     
       9. The vacuum highway system of claim 1, wherein said at least one transition piece has a truncated cone shape. 
     
     
       10. The vacuum highway system of claim 1, further comprising a deaerator device for removing absorbed air from said liquid. 
     
     
       11. A vacuum highway system comprising: (a) a liquid filled segment of pipe for sealing a vacuum highway and for allowing transition of vehicles from atmosphere to said vacuum highway;   (b) a pool for providing liquid for said pipe segment;   (c) a dock in said pool for transferring people and cargo; and   (d) a vacuum volume having vacuum pumps to maintain said vacuum in said vacuum highway.